


Doing the Right Thing

by Ladyofwarandmercy



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Disobeying Orders, Escape, F/M, Orders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 17:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3389468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladyofwarandmercy/pseuds/Ladyofwarandmercy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While taking Grant Ward back to the Playground for summary execution, Skye and May wonder if it is the right thing to do, and what choice they have.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doing the Right Thing

Melinda May was glad she had grabbed that second Red Bull when she and Skye had stopped at the convenience store before they got to the hospital to collect the fugitive and secure him in the back of the Quinjet. Skye was a complete wreck by the time she had made it to the cockpit, and was going to be no help piloting back to the Playground. After the third time Skye blew her nose, May figured she was ready to talk. “For what it’s worth, Skye, Ward won’t remember a thing he told you. He kept his story straight, too. Dammit.” Skye pierced her with a look, “Which can only mean what he was saying was the truth, Melinda. What the actual Hell? How did everybody miss what was going on in that house?” May took a hand off the stick and rubbed her thumb against her fingers in imitation of flicking money from a bundle. “After his first suicide attempt, when he was coming out of surgery, he thought I was a social worker. He was begging me to take Thomas out of the house, to do the right thing. He told me to move to Texas afterwards if I had to. Looks like the Wards had local social services very well intimidated.” May had done her crying months ago for the abused child who grew to become one of the most dangerous operatives Melinda May had ever known. And she wasn’t even in love with him. Skye on the other hand, was torn to pieces by the order to take him in. But in the aftermath of an attack in Austin, the hospital decided to run CODIS on the unidentified man, and Coulson was notified. 

Skye stared straight ahead as she told Melinda, “He flirted with me like a stupid teenaged boy, as if we had never met. As if he had seen me for the first time. It’s almost like he was going to fall for me no matter when or how we met.” Skye had to wipe a tear, “It was touching, really, until I told him I was a kind of cop. He started to tell me not to believe the school, that his dad gave them money to say he was not there when Thomas was killed. I took the time to look it up on my phone. Six months after Grant’s arrest back in 1999, they went on a construction binge, but all the buildings and stuff got named after generals and Presidents. Like a lot of money just showed up anonymously. And while I was checking, my source came through on the Ward murder-suicide. It ripped the tinfoil right off my head. The cops are keeping it hush-hush, but there was a second gun. And the pictures from the gun in Senator Ward’s possession match the bullets in the parents, but not the bullet in the Senator. The shocking thing was the gun in Senator Ward’s hands. Can you take a look?” May looked at the pictures on Skye’s laptop and frowned as Skye smiled wryly. “This look like a Grant Ward throwdown weapon to you? Mister Cleans-Guns-When-Bored would own a weapon that poorly maintained?” May met her glance, then slowly shook her head. She could see Skye physically relax. Someone finally believed her. “Skye, did you bring those points up to Coulson?” Skye nodded, but rolled her eyes. Phil was having as big a problem with being objective about Ward as Skye was, but in the opposite direction. Melinda had quietly had it out with Phil over her sleeping with Ward. Far be it from Melinda May to make apologies for her sex life to some guy just because another guy made him jealous, but she had to be sure Phil’s jealousy wasn’t the main driver of his animus. Phil was seriously violating the Michael Corleone Rule: Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgment.   
Almost as if the young Agent could hear her thoughts, Skye asked, “Do you think he really deserves the firing squad when we get back to base?” She almost didn’t catch the small motion, indicating a potential solution to their problem. “No, to be honest,” May answered, “Hand’s plane was re-captured after Puerto Rico, and we all saw the security tapes where Hand give an illegal order to Ward. She was surrounded by armed men who were backing her up. This mitigates his guilt over the guards and Hand. Hell, in his place I would have done the same thing if that were Coulson in Garrett’s place. In that situation, it is reasonable to think the muscle wouldn’t let you finish your noble speech about illegal orders before gunning your ass down. As for Koenig---Those guys are cute and funny, but they are, in the end, robots. If your smart phone is giving away your location to the enemy, you shouldn’t face charges if you decide to smash it. Look, I like the Koenigs too, and I’m kind of playing Devil’s Advocate. But that’s the point. Even the Devil gets an Advocate.” Skye shut her laptop and looked May in the eye. “And from what I’m digging up, the forensics backs what Ward told me about what happened at the Ward Mansion. Christian shot the parents as he was pouring the gasoline, and Grant shot Christian. Arson is not a capital offense, and shooting Christian was self-defense. Summarily executing Grant upon landing the jet is an illegal order, if he has not had due process. I’m not a lawyer, but neither is Coulson. But what are we supposed to do?”

May smiled as she heard a slight sound in the cockpit. “Did Ward ever tell you what happened to his sister?” Skye looked confused, “He told me their father molested her, and when she tried to go public, he had her put away in a mental hospital where she died.” May smiled slyly, “Check who her main doctor was, the one who signed her death certificate at the asylum.” Skye popped open the laptop and opened the file. Her eyes went round with shock. “Doctor Dorcas Macready? The same one who did my psych eval when you were applying for my badge?” May peeled her eyes away from the displays to nod with a smile. “Okay, so what really happened?” Skye asked. May shrugged and grabbed for her gun, which she pointed behind Skye. Skye had not even heard the other woman come in. Skye took in the bemused expression, the cheekbones, and the amber undertones in Agent 33’s darker brown eyes. Skye had seen the photo of Agent 33 many times, but only now did she see the family resemblance. “Oh,” was all Skye said, suddenly comprehending. “Yeah, oh,” 33 answered, not moving her gun from where she had it trained on May, “Can’t a girl get a drop on the pilot nowadays?” May smirked, but seemed un-phased, “That’s why I’m the Cavalry and you’re not---Do you still call yourself Kara, or have you gone back to Carrie?” 33 paused for a beat, and May continued, “You seem to have heard enough of the conversation to see where this can end. We are happy to comply with whatever you want to do to leave this aircraft with your brother.” 33 shook her head and holstered her gun, “Please don’t say ‘happy to comply.’ You have no idea how tired of complying I am, seriously. And it’s Carrie now, by the way. Now that the only members of my family left alive are the ones I like, I can go back to being Carolyn Ward now.” Carrie extended a hand to Skye to help her out of the co-pilot’s seat. “Come on, I hit Grant with some flumazenil before dropping in on the party here, so he should be a bit more awake. He needs to hear the good news from you, I think.”

When Carrie and Skye got back to where Grant was attached to his bed by every kind of manacle, body chain, and shackle known to Harry Houdini, the 15-year-old boy with a crush on the cute cop was gone, and the angry ex-Specialist she had wounded at their last meeting was back in his place. “Carrie, I don’t know what she told you, but she’ll betray you and enjoy every minute. I suggest ICERing her while you toss me the keys.” Carrie gave Grant a dubious look and shook her head while she tossed Grant the keys. “Naah, Poopsie here thinks you deserve due process before your execution, at the very least. So they’re gonna let us walk away, right?” Skye nodded to agree, still angry with Grant’s characterization of her. Grant had managed to get most of the way free, but was still slowed by the after effects of the drugs and the surgery that was the original reason SHIELD had found him. Carrie helped him out of the bed, and held him up. Carrie addressed what seemed to be the walls, “Can you fly low over Lake Texoma and let us parachute out?” May answered over the intercom, “Sure. Skye, you have those clothes for Ward? I don’t think a hospital gown is acceptable wear for a drunken swim if the cops find them.” Skye answered affirmatively, and went into a purple duffel bag. There was a set of Ward’s old clothes, clean and smelling slightly of her perfume. Carrie helped her brother change as Skye watched. Finally, Skye said, “I didn’t enjoy hurting you, Grant. And I don’t want you killed.” Grant gave her a look that tried to be indifferent, but failed. “Skye, you have a funny way of showing it. The worst thing I did to you was lie to you, and put you in danger when I was trying to keep you safe. You are the one who gloated about sending me to my brother, the one who said I should have tried harder to kill myself, and the one who shot me in the back. Don’t expect fawning gratitude for the one time you decide not to be utterly heartless. I thank you for your commitment to the principle of due process, because that’s the only reason you are letting us walk away. Now if you will pardon me, my sister and I need to prepare for a jump.” As Ward walked out the door towards the back of the Quinjet, Carrie walked up, gave Skye a hug, and whispered in her ear, “Don’t believe the act for a second. He’s gonna mope for the next month as much as you will. Patch it up, guys. I actually think I approve of you. And I don’t approve of anybody.” With that, Carolyn went to join her brother. Skye went back to the cockpit to get the story straight with May on the “hijacking.” Oddly, this was the first decision Skye had made in six months that she was absolutely sure was the right thing.


End file.
